Earl's Kitchen+Bar

Overall - Awesome

700 Bellevue Way NE Bellevue 98004
425-452-3275
3-6PM, 9-Close
earls.ca\locations\bellevue

Menu Variety - Awesome

Earl's offers a great selection of 18 different choices across seven pricing levels. Happy hour discounts are anywhere from a dollar off to 50% depending on the selection. Plenty of drink options. Happy Hour menu along with prices are also available on their website, which shows side-by-side the regular and HH pricing for each selection.

Food Quality - Awesome

We ordered:

• Chicken Street Tacos - $6
• Lobster Tostadas - $8
• Hawaiian Coconut Shrimp - $10
• House Red Wine - $6
• Holiday Sangria - $6

Very tasty and unique, particularly the Lobster Tostadas. Food came quickly despite the restaurant and bar being busy even at 5:30. The chicken tacos were a bit spicy still but Patty liked them enough to eat one. The dipping sauce added a bit more kick which Lonnie liked. Very nice presentation, particularly the chicken tacos, which were on a butcher block board.

Service Quality/ Friendliness - Awesome

Very friendly service. We were seated within a couple minutes of arriving. The server approached right after we sat with water and ready to take a drink order. Despite the restaurant being busy, the servers and kitchen didn't seem overwhelmed. Food was brought to table within about ten minutes of ordering. We talked with Rob, the general manager, after dinner who was very open and eager to receive our feedback.

Noise Level/ Ambience - Good

The bar area is huge with different seating options at bar and traditional table height. We didn't count, but estimated that the bar area could easily accommodate 100 guests. This is a good thing, because even at 5PM there were a lot of people in the restaurant. A bank of windows overlooks Bellevue Way, contributing to a cool city vibe. By 6PM there were people waiting at the entrance for a table. The noise level averaged 70 decibels, which is at the level of loud traffic. There were 11 TVs in the bar area, all muted. The music was unnecessarily loud. We were able to hear each other okay but were at a smaller table where we were seated close to each other. Earl's probably wouldn't be our first choice if we wanted to have relaxed conversation with another couple, although the restaurant side seemed a little quieter.

Value - Good

Pricing is about what we would have expected, though it took three appetizers to fill us up with no leftovers. There was a pricing discrepancy on the Sangria; I pointed it out to the server which she immediately rectified. Earl's uses portable credit card terminals so our credit card never left our sight. We wish more restaurants would use them.